Reality, According To
by Scarabbug
Summary: A quiet train ride to Domino city. Short, one shot.


A short thing which could've been better, but… Implied AtemxTéa, hinted Joey/Yugi. Nothing concrete.

Disclaimer: Don't own, do mess with.

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Reality, According To.

It's reading the newspaper she got from Mr Mouto that makes her doze off. The headlines had quickly blurred from tangible black letters to random gibberish. Comic strips. Something about the Japanese stock market. Something else concerning the banning of capsule monsters in elementary schools… Her eyes trail vaguely over the sports pages, but they never show the newest dance crazes or anything of that sort, anyway. Everything seems a bit… ordinary, really, when compared to saving the world with nothing but a duel disk, deck and an ancient artefact… Oh, and a marshmallon.

Which, granted, is something she only played a small part in (albeit a very vocal one). It makes it a lot more ironic, she thinks, then, that she should be the first of them to fall asleep, head resting against the carriage window and half read newspaper open in her lap. She dreamed about something. She can't remember what, precisely, but the purple eyes she saw gleaming in the darkness had not belonged to Yugi.

When she next opens her own eyes the newspaper has been folded up on the seat besides her (Bakura's doing, probably), there's nothing but dark outside the carriage windows and she's wearing someone else's coat. She's not certain whose. So which of the boys had been feeling the most chivalrous this evening?

It's actually hard to tell because there are coats and things scattered pretty much everywhere. There were certain after effects, they'd realised, of moving steadily from a climate like Egypt into the more tepid warmth of home. Tristan's right next to her, sort of half pressed against her shoulder, so the coat she's wearing is probably his. It's also, probably, his snoring that has woken her up in the first place. Typical that he's the only one of them who doesn't get nightmares about the end of the world… Well, she hasn't had any of those yet, either. Not yet, though she's sure she's going to. The dream she had this time was actually a good one, it's the waking up that bothers her.Bakura isn't there. He's probably gone wandering up the corridors again, what with his seemingly new found aversion to sitting still.

Joey's arm has somehow found its way around Yugi's shoulders and Yugi's… taller than he used to be, but still pretty short. So he's kind of vanishing under there. Still she can see the beginning of a quirk on Yugi's face and she figures he probably always falls asleep smiling like that. Joey's face is relatively expressionless.

Of course, the chances are that Yugi wouldn't find anything remotely noteworthy about this.

Téa doesn't want to call it cute, but it really kind of is. Because there's reality, and there's reality according to whatever book's Yugi's been reading, and more often than not, oddly enough, Yugi's books tend to end up being closer to the truth. Like when it comes to ancient Egyptian pharaohs cutting a hole for themselves in your mind. And so it must stand to reason that according to Yugi's reality, physical contact like that is optional regardless of gender limitations, orientation or how many people are sharing your body. Basically, Yugi's never been _entirely_ alone, even back when she thought he _was_. At least not for a very long time.

Well… maybe for a while, way back in Duellist kingdom (which still remains one of the potentially worst moments in all of Téa's life. Even when compared to virtual prisons, spiritual possession and the end of the universe as they knew it.) He's got no problems with _contact_. Not like some of the boys she knows who still act like they'll catch cooties off the nearest girl, or guys like Duke who go all gaga whenever a pair of pretty eyes bat in their direction. Yugi had had to get used to it, anyway. Young rookie duellists (particularly female ones with personal connections) had this tendency to rush up and want hugs from world-class players who also happened to be at their eyelevel.

Still, she thinks. It's… Joey. And while he's not exactly adverse to physical contact (be it casual, emotional or downright violent), this isn't exactly the kind of pose she's ever seen him take with Tristan, or Bakura, or her. Serenity? Maybe… He never looks quite this _relaxed_ with Serenity, though. Perhaps because he still feels he has to look after her.

Téa sinks deeper under the too-small coat and thinks. It's not freezing or anything, just draughty. Like the dance halls between classes, waiting around in short sleeves and leotard in an unheated room. She wondered, once, how they used to dance in Egypt (without the electronic gizmos and glowing lights and twelve thousand American dollar scholarship funds, of course). Whether it was anything like what she showed the pharaoh that time (Atem, she reminds herself. His name is… was Atem.)

She probably should've known better than to voice this thought aloud, though, because Joey must've spent about ten minutes imitating a weird pyramid dance he'd seen on kids TV. He'd only stopped when he saw the change in Yugi's face and realised the pharaoh was giving him the "what-in-the-name-of-all-the-Gods-are-you-doing?" look he sometimes gave overconfident rookie duellists who thought they can get the better of the king of games.

Joey kept his mouth shut for a while after that.

Téa still smiles when she remembers. She never did get to ask Atem that one… But then, reality –the genuine article, that is— sometimes had a habit of hitting them all in the back. And don't even get her started on virtual reality. Something jolts her out of semi-sleep, as the train takes a less-than-comfortable detour over a bumpy track. There's a muffled squeak from one of the coat piles.

'Ng. Hey…'

'Hm?'

Téa's ears prick as a coat bundle shuffles. For a moment, she thinks she's not the only one awake anymore. Tristan mutters something about fireworks and send off music in his sleep, but it's pretty obvious he's out of it.

'…You're squashing me, Joey.' Yugi mumbles.

'Mff. Sorry…'

The arm shifts from Yugi's shoulder and everything is quiet again. She wonders whether any of them had actually woken up.

No, Téa thinks, silently to herself, smiling ever so slightly as she settles in her seat, to wait for Bakura, there's nothing… noteworthy about it. She has some things she'd like to ask him about body sharing ancient Egyptian spirits and what effects they can have on you, anyway. After all, there's a long night ahead of them and Egypt is already far behind them, beyond the horizon

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Reviews are appreciated as is concrit.


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